On Rare Weekend Alone, Bride-to-Be Is Murdered

Amanda Strous was killed in her home in Charlotte, N.C., just a few weeks before her July wedding. (Facebook)

(Newser)
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Early Saturday evening, just weeks before her July 30 wedding, college counselor Amanda Strous was pulled from her fiery apartment in Charlotte, NC. The fire, says Strous' dad, was a cover-up to hide her murder. Police say that a man who lives in the same complex confessed to the killing the 27-year-old when they found him near Las Vegas two days later. Mathew Thomas Benner, 28, works for an air traffic control software company; his brother, Christopher Benner, who is an attorney in Las Vegas, is refusing to comment beyond telling the Charlotte Observer that he is "addressing legal matters" for his brother. Police have not yet announced a motive in the murder but say Benner will be charged with murder and first-degree arson.

Strous' father tells People that Benner lived above Strous, who was home alone the night of the murder writing bridal shower thank-you cards. Her mother tells the Observer, "This was the only weekend that she was alone," as her roommate was attending an out-of-state wedding and her fiance, whom she met in college in 2008, was at a pre-wedding guys' weekend in Maryland. More than 300 people attended a candlelit vigil in her home town of York, Pa., on Tuesday, and a GoFundMe page had raised nearly $28,000 as of this writing to "give Amanda's family, fiance, and friends the tools/resources they need to begin overcoming this awfulness." "My daughter was in love and [as a dad] that's great," her father says. "She was full of life." Authorities found Benner via his cell phone's GPS. He confessed, but no further details have been released. (This groom was killed hours after his wedding.)

Wait a minute... The bridegroom was at a "pre-wedding guys' weekend in Maryland"?? Call me evil minded, but that sounds to me like he was having sex with prostitutes before getting married. I am sorry for what happened to the prospective bride, but I now wonder if her killer was somehow trying to protect her? Really a mess here we all may never find out about.

TestUser01

Jun 22, 2016 5:56 PM CDT

Honestly the guy who did this is lucky we have a legal system, because this kind of action he really deserves to be killed in a revenge murder

trixietimez

Jun 22, 2016 4:46 PM CDT

How awful.. when will our society stop promoting the idea that women are there for the taking? The worst thing is that this site had ads for other articles just below the story about "beautiful women" and objectifying them. Some people just don't get it, they offer up women in the media like non-humans. And I know it's an American thing, but why do people always raise money after something like this? "Here's 28k dollars to help you recover from this." How about donating that to a women's shelter, or any organization that teaches young men how to respect women?